Ryanair has urged governments to intervene to prevent flight disruption caused by striking French air traffic controllers.
Hundreds of flights operating through French airspace – overflights – have been cancelled due to industrial action.
Europe’s largest budget carrier now wants the UK, Irish, Italian and Spanish governments to take action to protect services which fly over France.
Ryanair has previously called on the European Commission to act but claimed Brussels has “repeatedly failed” to protect Europe’s single market for air travel.
The carrier complained that once again the French government used minimum service legislation to protect French flights and citizens “while causing delays and cancellations for thousands of passengers” on Thursday.
Ryanair warned that it expected to cancel up to 100 flights affecting 18,000 passengers and would suffer delays to another 500 flights involving 90,000 passengers due to “very long” ATC delays affecting services overflying French airspace.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “We’re fed up with these repeated flight disruptions and cancellations caused by tiny French ATC unions, and the French government policy of using minimum services to protect French flights for French citizens while disrupting thousands of flights overflying France for thousands of EU citizens who are not travelling to/from France.
“The EU Commission under Ursula von der Leyen continues to stand idly by while Europe’s single market for air travel is wrecked again and again by these tiny French ATC unions, and if the EU Commission won’t act to protect its citizens, then national governments must intervene.”